The Dow Jones industrials in New York suffered their second-biggest point loss ever yesterday, amid news of a parliamentary showdown in Russia and North Korea's apparent firing of a missile over part of Japan.
The Dow blue-chip industrial index lost 512.61 points - or 6.4 per cent - to close at 7,539.07, wiping out all of its gains for the year and nearly 20 per cent below its all-time closing high on July 17th of 9,337.97.
The Dow ended 1997 at 7,908.25.
The market took wide and deep hits as investors continued last week's rush to the exit doors, leaving the broad indexes sharply lower as well.
The bond market benefited from investors' flight to quality, pushing the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond down to 5.26 per cent. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 68.23 to 958.91. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 140.53 to 1,499.15.
